The Grand Canal
Back about 1500 years ago, the Chinese government wanted to build a "highway" to transport goods between the north and south of China (no wheeled vehicles back then). Since most of the rivers run west to east in China, the gov decided to build a north/south running canal between Beijing and Hangzhou (which is several hundred miles south of Shanghai). The canal is still used to this day, and it is about a block from where I live. I love to go watch all the old-looking barges coming and going all day long.
The Pearl Market
Last week I went to visit the pearl market. I loved it! They had scads of booths selling freshwater pearls from a pearl farm, and the prices were rock-bottom. They had many different styles and colors (even in America, "chocolate pearls" are popular). I liked the turquoise too. They also had jade and other things. I only got to stay about an hour. I took a taxi out there, only to find it is out in the boonies. There was no public transportation to get me back to town, so the taxi driver agreed to wait for me if I only took an hour. I could have stayed three hours! Anyway, here's a couple of pictures of the merchandise....
4th of JulyMy American friends in Bamboo Forest threw an amazing 4th of July party. It was so fun!!! There were 25 present, and we had lots of yummy American-style picnic food on their first floor patio area. After dinner they had 3-legged races and water balloon throws. Then there were sparklers, fire crackers (noisy variety) and fireworks (the pretty kind that explode in the sky). I better leave their faces off the blog, but I'll show you the hot dogs on the grill so you can see how normal life can be here!
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